1.2 M undocumented Asians in US, half are probably Pinoys...

By GMA News Online / Pinoy Abroad, on April 13th, 2013

Out of an estimated 1.2 million undocumented Asians in the United States, about half are Filipinos, a report of the Asian Journal news site said.

Citing some Asian and Filipino-American immigrant groups, the Asian Journal said on Tuesday the undocumented Filipinos will be “most affected, if certain family-based immigrant visas will be limited or even removed from any proposed reform legislation.”

The Asian Journal said a Filipino Migrant Center’s immigration forum was conducted on April 3 at the First Lutheran Church in Long Beach, California, to address some of the Filipinos’ immigration concerns.

The forum answered several questions about immigration raised by members of the Filipino community in the United States in line with the country’s upcoming comprehensive immigration reform bill.

Panelists Betty Hung of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center and policy consultant Cynthia Buiza fielded questions that Filipinos raised about immigration concerns, especially those pertaining to undocumented immigrants.

“There are a lot of undocumented Filipinos in our community – adults and youths. It’s important for them and the immigrant community to understand what is going on so they can make the right decision when this legislation comes out,” the Asian Journal quoted Buiza as saying.
Some questions raised during the forum were:

If a bill is passed, what kind of process should undocumented immigrants expect?
What kind of documents will be needed if a bill is passed?
The report said the US immigration reform is “multi-step process” and undocumented immigrants may be required “to pay a fine, pay back taxes and clear a background check to make sure they don’t have any criminal records.”

Buiza described this particular immigration bill as “generous,” adding that “as long as you don’t have any serious criminal offenses, you should qualify.”
Hung, on the other hand, noted that finding the needed documents can be challenging.
She said some undocumented immigrants either possess no documents or lost them.
Hung advised undocumented people “to keep receipts from their trips to a grocery story, keep bank statements, letters from a clergy that shows you are a member of the church, letters from family relatives, rental agreements, a library card,” according to the Asian Journal.
“Anything with your name on it that you can think of that shows you are and have been here,” said Hung.
“We need our kababayans to come out and make their voices heard,” Buiza said during the forum.
“We need our voices to be heard so those senators know what we want in an immigration reform bill,” said Hung.

According to the 2011 Stock Estimate of Overseas Filipinos done by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, there were 260,335 Filipinos in the US as of December that year who were not properly documented or without valid residence or work permits.

Over 460,000 petitions
The Asian Journal also said that according to data from the US Department of State as of November 2012, 462,000 petitions filed by Filipinos or from the Philippines are still pending, out of 4.4 million.
According to Buiza, the number of Filipinos who are undocumented or waiting for legal entrance means that they have a “huge stake” when the US Senate’s immigration reform bill comes out.

On Friday, it was reported that US senators plan to unveil a comprehensive immigration bill on April 16, Tuesday. US President Barack Obama’s priorities during his second term in office involved immigration reform.
Gian C. Geronimo, VVP, GMA News